Watershed should rescind assessment

The Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District has netted itself $41.5 million upfront in a mineral rights deal. It remains to be seen if that deal will mean less money out of taxpayers' pockets, but it should.

Most property owners in an 18-county area pay a $12 annual assessment on their tax bills for the MWCD. Payments for others - landowners with parking lots or buildings with large roofs - are $132 per acre, however.

Those assessments, levied by the district in 2009, raised slightly more than $11 million in 2012 for the district. MWCD primarily exists to prevent floods through maintaining dams. Recreation is a nice byproduct, but returning money to residents should be as important as recreational overhauls.

With the latest deal the MWCD has made for mineral rights, and two previous ones, the district can expect millions more to fill its coffers.

MWCD made a deal with Antero Resources, of Denver, which will provide the district with a signing bonus of $6,200 for each of the 6,700 acres within the lease agreement will - plus a 20 percent royalty on oil and gas produced at Senaca Lake in Guernsey and Noble counties.

The district already had two others lease agreements - one a $15.6 million deal with Gulfport Energy at Clendening Lake and a $21.5 million deal with Chesapeake Energy at Leesville Lake. Neither of those agreements have generated royalty payments for the district yet.

The assessment can be reviewed annually, and district spokesperson Darrin Lautenschleger said any decision to reduce it would need to be approved by the board and submitted to county auditors by the end of September.

A reduction would not have to occur immediately. The district could wait until royalty payments come in and then begin discussions. Depending on what the district's bylaws allow, it would be wise to look into investments that would garner more money in the future so these lease agreements are more than a one-time boon.

Either way, district officials should give taxpayers a break - even it's just $12.

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Watershed should rescind assessment

The Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District has netted itself $41.5 million upfront in a mineral rights deal. It remains to be seen if that deal will mean less money out of taxpayers' pockets, but